CS activation

Raul

A lot of the pro activation posts seem to infer that those opposed to activation are pro piracy with such questions as "How would you feel if your photograph were used without your permission?" That is not the issue! Theft - piracy of software, other peoples creative works etc. is not right. So the question is not is software piracy ok the question is - Is activation a reasonable way to address the problem? Many have said yes, many no. For those that say yes, my question to you is - at what point do you draw the line? We started out with needing to enter serial numbers, now activation. What is next? Everytime you use the program you need to activate it? Whenever you use the program it logs your use and then sends info when you are connected to the net? Is it OK for a store to insist on a strip search to reduce shoplifting? Where does it stop and how much are you willing to put up with?

It is ironic that Adobe gained customers from Quark because many were fed up with Quarks passion for protection. Now Adobe is going that route.

Pirates and hackers will continue to crack whatever companies use.

Perhaps a better "Activation" would be to code the users name and serial number into the program as part of the activation process. Or set up production so that each copy is unique with an embedded serial number. This would allow Adobe to track where bootlegged/borrowed/shared copies came from and take appropriate action. And it would allow the legal user to use the software without ANY of the hassels of Activation/deactivation(no matter how minimal) Again determined hackers could probably get around this type of system but they will get around most systems.

cannot hear. We are paying owners of the product. We are not hackers. We are not supporting them. We will pay for our upgrades. What we paid our hard earned dollars for, we do not give away or sell to others.

But......we are annoyed and if Adobe and other software makers do not stop to consider the feelings of their vast base of "honest" paying customers, they will someday loose us.

That is the message.!

Bud

. . . what it is that I'm to be upset about.

I have a couple of copies of Photoshop Elements that came free with some hardware items I bought. Elements wasn't enough for me, so a few years ago I bought Photoshop and installed it. I've paid for the couple of upgrades that have come out in the meantime and installed them.

I've always maintained a copy of Photoshop on the laptop so I can work in the field. Adobe knows about this.

Nothing has ever gone wrong. With Photoshop, anyhow. Which is more than I can say for the computers it's been installed on. But despite computer issues, Photoshop has always re-initialized itself (or whatever the term is) as soon as the computer issue has been resolved, and life has gone on.

I'm as happy as the next guy to protest against injustice, but for the life of me I haven't been able to figure out how I'm getting screwed here.

Mike

JAM said:

...).", when CS2 hasn't even been shipped yet.

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You just assume too much. I never talked about CS2. Don't accume me of things I never said.

JAM214922 said:

As I explained much earlier, Macromedia has the same sort of
activation and has never been a problem.
... you want, and then
reauthorize it. Not a problem at all.

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What the heck has Macromedia to do with Photoshop activation???

And again, what if every software on your machine had its own activation scheme? Not only is it highly unlikely that you remember each one when yu upgrade, but it is also a major time consuming trouble you would have to go thtough just to use the software you own own in the first place and payed for.

JAM214922 said:

I'm becoming a fan of the iLok, a USB dongle that records all your
authorization codes and then allows you to install the software on
any computer. Of course, it can only be used when the iLok is
plugged in, but it works really well.

Click to expand...

And I become a fan of owning the hardware and software I payed for and I don't want to ask anybody's permission or re-permission to use my software. Anything that causes extra cost or effort on my side is not in my direct interest. I had to use dongled software for years and it has caused major problem on a regular basis. Up to a point where it actually slowed down our business. No thanks.

JAM214922 said:

All of these schemes have workarounds for the legitimate owner who
is experiencing a problem.

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Please tell me the legal workaround for Photoshop CS.

JAM214922 said:

As to your high-school kid - if she's on a school computer and that
computer has an educational release of Photoshop, I don't see the
problem.

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Are you deliberately trying to missunderstand what I wrote? My point was that most kids who run a cracked version are no potential customers anyway. They have it because it is cool to have the big tools on their PC regardless if they need it or not.

JAM214922 said:

If the kid is too lazy to stay after school and experiment with
PhotoShop, Adobe has made Photoshop Elements available for all
those hobbyists and students who want to get familiar with the
program. In fact, Photoshop Elements 3 has nearly all the features
needed by a photographer, including Camera RAW, and its only US
$99, or less. So what's the problem?

Click to expand...

I don't know what you are talking about? I never made a point that kids should or have access to software. I didn't even say anything about that. My point was a completely different one and I'm happy to repeat it one more time. Most people who run cracks are school kids who are, by their current situation, no potential customers, so there is no loss on the manufacturers side.

--
David
http://www.usefilm.com/artist/octane
Wildlife: http://neptune.atlantis-intl.com/dolphins/cpg132/index.php

See my response from Adobe in this thread:
http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1021&message=12951066

--
Dave
http://davedigital.smugmug.com

And again, what if every software on your machine had its own activation scheme? Not only is it highly unlikely that you remember each one when yu upgrade, but it is also a major time consuming trouble you would have to go thtough just to use the software you own own in the first place and payed for." -->

Macromedia & Adobe use the same Activation technology is his point I believe. Macrovision.

I used to work at Macromedia and also have worked with many of the good folks over at Adobe. It is absolutely jaw dropping the amount of piracy that was happening in the 90's and into the 00's. This piracy, coupled with electronic delivery from online purchases, drove the decisions to require activation.

Never had an issue with it as an end user myself. It's quick and easy and usually they allow you multiple installs for multiple machines. I can see where, if you had multple wrapper technologies on your machine, it might get confusing but...really...as a working photographer, who of us can't completely understand the desire to get "paid"? Would you like all of us stealing your work?

Raul does have a point about international sales. With local price points well out of the reach of the ordinary user or student, piracy unfortunately becomes the norm. Credit cards are not as widely used which doesn't help matters either...

Thanks to Nikon Capture crashing my new computer on installation I had to reinstall Photoshop CS a few times (more then 2 time in six months), and that put me over my limit.

I payed good money for CS and I have no problem with Adobe put in place things to stop others from getting what I paid for free. I had no problem calling and getting a new activation code. Adobe service center was very nice and helpful.

--
F15Todd
Beer, the cause of, and solution to, all life’s problems

I did my 2 activations.
Soon thereafter my laptop HD crashed, unbootable. Ouch.

Off to Altex. New 80GB is in place. I was all psyched to call Adobe to explain things. No need, as the pseudo-3rd activation was quick, smooth and glitchless.
My hat is off to Adobe for a job well done on a great product.

F15Todd said:

Thanks to Nikon Capture crashing my new computer on installation I
had to reinstall Photoshop CS a few times (more then 2 time in six
months), and that put me over my limit.

I payed good money for CS and I have no problem with Adobe put in
place things to stop others from getting what I paid for free. I
had no problem calling and getting a new activation code. Adobe
service center was very nice and helpful.

--
F15Todd
Beer, the cause of, and solution to, all life’s problems

Click to expand...

--
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Every advance in our knowledge of the cosmos has revealed that we live on a cosmic speck of dust orbiting a mediocre sort of star in the far suburbs in a common sort of galaxy, among a hundred billion galaxies in the observable universe...
still...
...when I look at all those stars I am struck by how insignificant they are.

After reading the information about activation on the Adobe PS CS 2 web pages I think I can live with it (have one desktop and one noetbook). Actually I think it's not worse than PS CS and could even make life easier (you could easily transfer an activation from one machine to the next).

Of course if you're coming from a pre CS version and running PS on more than 2 machines (at the same time) this activation scheme will make life not so easy.

[Placed the pre-order. The promised ship date is April 28th.]

steve

From what I'm hearing, if you get or upgrade to CS2 you will still have a 2 times activation limit of sort, but you will be able to go on-line and DEactivate a use, and then reactivate without a call to Adobe.

--
F15Todd
Beer, the cause of, and solution to, all life’s problems